Chelsea v Tottenham: Team news, best bets, prediction – more injury issues for Pochettino
Chelsea host Tottenham on Thursday evening in the latest important Premier League game – but manager Pochettino has to contend with more absences
By Jon Turner | May 2, 2024
Chelsea’s rollercoaster season edges towards its conclusion, and ahead of Thursday evening’s Premier League London derby against Tottenham, the injuries are piling up for Mauricio Pochettino.
Injuries have been a common theme, with the Chelsea manager denied access to several key players for most of the season, including captain Reece James, new star forward Christopher Nkunku, and potential first-teamers Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia.
As the Blues face Spurs at Stamford Bridge, it’s more bad news on the fitness front. Thiago Silva, days after announcing his exit, has been ruled out after a late knock during the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa.
Axel Disasi, who thought he’d scored a dramatic late winner at Villa Park, is also sidelined, leaving the Blues desperately short in central defence.
Still, there is no opportunity to dwell, and the available players will hope to build on a brilliant second half against Villa last Saturday, when they fought back from 2-0 down at halftime and were unlucky not to win.
There’s the added motivation, too, of keeping alive our slim hopes of European football for next season, while also delivering a massive blow to Tottenham’s Champions League ambitions.
Chelsea team news
As already mentioned, the injuries continue to build. Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi have been added to ridiculously long list of absent players, which also includes full-backs Ben Chilwell and Malo Gusto, and midfielders Carney Chukwuemeka and Enzo Fernandez, who underwent a hernia operation and is out for the season.
Midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu, winger Raheem Sterling, goalkeeper Robert Sanzhez, and captain Reece James are all in partial team training but will not feature against Spurs.
Forward Christopher Nkunku and defender Levi Colwill have returned to full-team training, but are not expected to be part of Thursday’s squad.
“It’s not good news because we cannot recover any players in the last week,” Pochettino said.
With a crisis in central defence, Colwill might need to take his place on the bench.
As for Tottenham, there will be no return to the Bridge for forward Timo Werner. The German is on loan at Spurs but a hamstring injury has ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Full-back Ben Davies is also out for the remainder of the campaign after picking up an injury against Arsenal. The pair join long-term absentees Destiny Udogie, Manor Solomon, Fraser Forster and Ryan Sessegnon on the sidelines.
Spurs will have midfielder Oliver Skipp available for selection.
Recent head-to-head meetings
A rivalry Chelsea have completely dominated, going all the way back to the 1980s. In more recent and relevant meetings over the past 10 matches (since September 2020), Chelsea have won six, drawn two and lost two in all competitions.
The reverse Premier League fixture last November was one of the craziest games of the season. A rampant Tottenham dominated the early part of the game, with Dejan Kulusevski giving the hosts the lead in the sixth minute and Son Heung-min having a goal chalked off for a marginal offside.
Then it all went a bit mad. Moises Caicedo had a stunning goal disallowed for offside but the VAR check then sent off Cristian Romero for a studs-up tackle on Enzo. Cole Palmer duly slotted home the penalty to equalise.
Spurs were then reduced to nine men 10 minutes into the second half when Destiny Udogie was shown a second yellow card for a lunging challenge on Sterling.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Tottenham continued to play a suicidal high line and eventually Chelsea punished them as Nicolas Jackson helped himself to his first hat trick.
Recent form
So inconsistent are Chelsea that their form even fluctuates mid match. After the diabolical defeat at Arsenal, it appeared more misery was on the way when the Blues trailed 2-0 at Aston Villa.
But when the players came out for the second half, it was an entirely different story from the collapse at the Emirates. Chelsea totally dominated the fourth-placed Villains and in the end, it was the hosts who were lucky to escape with a draw.
With one defeat in the past 10 league matches, Chelsea’s form isn’t horrible, but one win in the past four is hardly anything to shout about either.
Tottenham, meanwhile, have hit the skids at precisely the wrong time for their top four hopes. Ange Postecoglou’s side appeared to find form with a run of four wins and a draw in six matches, including a 4-0 victory at top-four rivals Villa.
But Spurs arrive at Stamford Bridge following back-to-back defeats, conceding seven goals in the process.
After a 4-0 pounding by Newcastle at St James’ Park, they were 3-0 down to arch-rivals Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Spurs did well to rally with two goals in the second half but it was too little, too late in a 3-2 defeat.
Key stats – Chelsea v Everton
- Chelsea are unbeaten in 32 of their past 33 home league games against Tottenham. The only defeat came in April 2018 – when Mauricio Pochettino was Spurs manager.
- Cole Palmer is aiming to become only the second player in Premier League history (after Erling Haaland last season) to score three successive hat-tricks in home games.
- Cole Palmer has scored in a club record seven successive home league games, netting 13 goals in that time.
- Chelsea have done the Premier League double over Tottenham nine times. The Blues have only done the double more against one other team (Manchester City – 10).
- Only against Manchester United (39) have Tottenham lost more Premier League games than they have against Chelsea (34).
- Tottenham have lost their last two Premier League away games (2-0 v Fulham, 4-0 v Newcastle) – as many away defeats as they had in the previous 14 away games.
- Spurs failed to score in either game having only failed to score in two of their previous 34 away league matches.
Match odds
Chelsea are marginal favourites to win the match, with Betfair pricing the Blues at 11/10 for victory. Tottenham to win is priced at 8/5, while the draw is available at 21/10.
Best bets to consider
The first thing I did when researching the markets was to browse Noni Madueke bets. The winger was Chelsea’s star man against Villa with a goal and assist, and generally ripping the Villa defence to shreds.
Full of confidence and guaranteed to start, Madueke will be aiming to play another important role for the Blues on Thursday, and with both Spurs left-backs – Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies – out injured, this could be a major area of weakness for Tottenham. Noni Madueke to score or assist anytime is 11/8 – and that is a bet I’m getting on.
Another interesting bet is Benoit Badiashile to complete 70+ to 90+ passes at 1/1. Badiashile will start again in the absence of Thiago Silva, Disasi, and Colwill, and last time out completed 103 passes against Aston Villa.
The Frenchman had his best game in some time on Saturday, and if he can continue his decent form in the game against Tottenham, he should see plenty of the ball as Chelsea build from the back.
As for a team bet, we can expect goals in this game, so get on Chelsea double chance & over 3.5 goals at 1.37/1.
Match prediction
A London derby between two teams in very mixed form, the one thing we can accurately predict is that it should be great entertainment! So much will depend on which Chelsea team shows up, albeit one further depleted by fresh injuries.
The second-half showing at Villa Park should give us enough confidence and optimism that the Blues will start much stronger on Thursday night, and with a front four of Madueke, Palmer, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Nicolas Jackson, there’s more than enough quality to take the game to Spurs.
Tottenham are a good side but their recent dip in form – back-to-back defeats and successive away losses – shows they are not firing on all cylinders.
A great opportunity to get the win and hopefully deal a fatal blow to Spurs’ Champions League ambitions!
